Pines school collects items for Forgotten Soldiers Outreach

An effort to collect items for soldiers deployed overseas has turned into an annual event at Somerset Academy in Pembroke Pines.

The collection effort to benefit Forgotten Soldiers Outreach began with then-fifth-grade student Gabriella Matarazzo. Writing a letter to a soldier expanded into a collection effort for the Lake Worth-based nonprofit. Now 13 and in the seventh grade, Gabriella continues to work on the effort.

"I hoped that it would continue, but I never expected that it would," Gabriella said.

Founded in 2003 by Lynelle Zelnar, Forgotten Soldiers collects donations and uses them to send care packages to U.S. service members deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The care packages include items that are easily obtainable domestically but harder to come by in the field, including toiletries, beef jerky and magazines. The care packages are helpful for soldiers on the move.

"You're out there at a forward operating base … rotating in and out of missions," said Jeanelle Knecht, an assistant to Zelnar.

Knecht said Forgotten Soldiers ships out a monthly average of 600 care packages, which also include letters from children. Donations vary depending on the season.

"Our slow time is in the summer when kids are not in school," Knecht said.

Prior to the holiday season, Forgotten Soldiers put out several calls for item donations. Knecht said the group's donations come from a combination of individuals, businesses and schools like Somerset Academy. Knecht said the school collected enough material for about 600 care packages.

The school also raised more than $1,200 through a dress down day that students paid $4 each to participate in, said Gabriella's mother, Angela Matarazzo. Although the effort started in Pembroke Pines, Matarazzo said it has since expanded to include the school's Pompano Beach campus.

"It keeps growing every year," Matarazzo said.

Although this year's collection effort at Somerset is over, Gabriella is looking into creating a club that would collect supplies year-round and participate in packing events at the Forgotten Soldiers warehouse.